IKEA is coming to Penang, Malaysia

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IKEA is coming to Penang, Malaysia

IKEA is a globally well-known furniture giant and now they are expanding to Penang, Malaysia, where their 4th store in the country and second outside of Greater Kuala Lumpur is scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2019.

IKEA Batu Kawan is 433,000 sq ft by sales area size and a part of the Aspen Vision City, which is a project consisting of a parkland, apartment buildings and a financial hub. The location is within an hour’s drive from around 825,000 households. The aim of the project is to make it easy for people to come for a great day out, to see functional home decor and enjoy the famous Swedish meatballs. It is anticipated to attract millions of shoppers, tourists and investors to Batu Kawan.

This project is already the 4th IKEA project for Eastern Pretech (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd, an experienced precast product manufacturer and installer, and a long-term Elematic customer. Matti Mikkola, CEO, says the first project was built in Damansara, Kuala Lumpur, back in the early 2000s, but this is by far the most challenging one.

‘’In addition to the design, manufacture and delivery, the deal included the installation. The challenge was to deliver precast products to the construction site on time, because one of our factories is located some 50 km from the construction site and the other in Kuala Lumpur, 400 km away. There was some storage space on the site to ensure the continuity of the installation in case of delivery problems. Overall, there were 10 – 12 deliveries to the site daily. The installations were conducted with five cranes between November 2017 and May 2018. Everything went smoothly thanks to the five installation teams, which worked seven days a week on a rapid speed.’’

Due to the adoption of modern construction methods, IKEA Penang gained the highest ever – outstanding – Industrialized Building System (IBS) score recorded to date. Malaysia aims to double the construction industry’s productivity levels across the country, which is in line with the drive towards IBS adoption. “Adopting IBS will bring benefits that include accelerated construction timeline, higher quality of construction, safer working environment on-site, as well as cost savings with repeated use of standardised IBS components’’ says Dato’ Ir Ahmad ‘Asri, Chief Executive of Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB). The IBS certificate was given to the main designer and contractor of the project, Kajima (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd. “This achievement by IKEA Penang is a significant one. It clearly demonstrates the private sector’s commitment and success in adopting the latest technologies in construction. Importantly, it will serve as a prime example for more private industry players to step forward in adopting IBS, and to take the lead in increasing construction productivity’’ adds Dato’ Ir Ahmad ‘Asri.

Kajima handled all the construction phases sustainably and safely, which is why they were also awarded with a 5 Star Safety and Health Assessment System in Construction (SHASSIC) rating.